February 14, 2025, Lake Placid, New York.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has announced the results of a project evaluating and validating the feasibility of small-scale processing and bottling the saps of aspen, beech, and birch trees as shelf-stable beverages.

“This project responded to maple producers’ hesitancy to invest in tapping trees other than maple due to the low sugar content in the sap of other species of trees. This research explored the option to bottle the sap from other tree species without the expense required to concentrate the sap and suggests that it is indeed feasible for small-scale production,” explained project co-leader Aaron Wightman.

The research team of Wightman and Adam Wild, co-directors of the Cornell University Maple Program, and Cornell Food Scientist Catherine Monserrate, Ph.D., adapted a small-scale bottling method for maple sap recently developed by the Cornell Maple Program for use with sap collected from beech, birch, and aspen trees at the Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid. Their processes used equipment commonly present in many sugaring operations in northern New York. The processes produced a thermally pasteurized refrigerated sap beverage and an acidified and thermal pasteurized shelf-stable product.

Wightman notes that the procedures developed for processing and preserving the sap of maple trees as a bottled beverage need to be adapted to fit the different composition of each species of tree to make a shelf-stable sap beverage.

This NNYADP-funded research may be the first report of the composition of aspen and beech sap. The project identified the content, composition, and pH of the beech, birch, and aspen species’ sap. An earlier NNYADP-funded project by Wild determined the mineral composition of beech syrup and served as a precursor for this new research.

Photo:  Beech syrup samples made (left: with reverse osmosis, right: without RO) during a 2022 NNYADP project evaluating whether beech saplings would yield enough sap for profitable syrup production to potentially provide regional maple producers with another forest-based product. A new grant in 2024 has evaluated the bottling of beech and other tree saps. Photo: Adam Wild

This 2024 project is also believed to be the first validation of the carbohydrate pectin in beech sap. The trial process was successful in isolating and removing the pectin from the beech sap.

Taste Test
A taste test with 100 panelists at the Cornell Sensory Evaluation Center assessed consumer response to the acidified and pasteurized aspen, beech and birch tree sap beverages produced by the trial, judging for flavor, sweetness, acidity, and likeliness to purchase the sap beverages.

“Best by” and Production Steps
An overview of production steps for producing a refrigerated pasteurized sap with a “Best by” date of 5 days and for producing shelf-stable acidified sap with estimated potential for storage of longer than 6 months are in the “Developing Alternative Tree Sap Beverages” report posted under the About: NNYADP Projects by Year: 2024 projects tab and under the Research: Maple, Beech and Birch Research tab at www.nnyagdev.org. Extension fact sheets for bottling tree saps and isolating and reducing pectin content in beech sap will be available at cornellmaple.com soon.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets.

 

Congratulations to Michael Murphy, an NNYADP Farmer Committee member who has recently been elected to serve on the New York Farm Bureau Board of Directors. Michael is the production manager at Childstock Farms in Franklin County. The farm produces seed potatoes, kale, turnip greens, cilantro, and collards. In his youth, Michael helped his family operate a dairy farm and raise beef. He holds an agricultural science degree from Cornell University and is a Certified Crop Advisor. Michael has been a member of the Franklin County Farm Bureau since 2020; a NYFB member for 10 years.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is pleased to have Michael among the more than 80 farmers from across our six-county region helping to prioritize research for the diverse farming sectors of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.

January 13, 2025. Morning Ag Clips recently ran an article on “Manure Nutrient Variability During Land Application on Four New York Dairies” written by researcher Quirine M. Ketterings and her research team. The article recognizes NNYADP among the grant sources supporting the work. Click here to read the article.

Click here to read the NNYADP research report on the “value of manure” trials in 2023. 2024 report is expected to post in February.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Willsboro, New York; December 2, 2024.  High tunnels help farmers to extend their growing seasons and sales, but crop selection and timing are critical decisions for production success and economic return. High tunnel crops research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) produced mixed results for fall-winter greens production and income opportunities for growers in New York’s northern climate region.

The research on direct-seeded greens grown from mid-September to early March produced data on which varieties had the best chance for high yield and high quality. The hoped-for news that the varieties could produce well for both extended fall and late winter (January-March) sales was only half fulfilled.

“The data suggest that the greens we trialed may be most worthwhile as a late fall crop to extend the season into November and December for the holiday markets, late-season community supported agriculture shares, or wholesale markets. The greens could be terminated in December rather than keeping the crop overwinter for regrowth in February and March,” says Cornell Cooperative Extension Vegetable Specialist Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D.

Hodgdon, and CCE Agricultural Business Development and Marketing Specialist Lindsey Pashow conducted trials of 20 varieties of salad greens in an unheated tunnel at the Willsboro Research Farm, Willsboro, New York. The trials included arugula, kale, and Asian mustards, lettuce, and spinach.

Crop yields across the trials in 2022 and 2023 were higher for fall harvest than in winter. The all-varieties fall harvest yield total from the high tunnel from October 19 to December 5, 2022 was 109 pounds, 11 pounds in mid-March 2023. The fall harvest total yield from September 5 to October 30, 2023 under cooler, cloudier conditions was 49 pounds; 14 pounds harvested in February to March 4, 2024.

The enterprise budget calculated for the trial in 2023 used an average yield of 0.17 pounds per square foot of tunnel space at $10 per pound grown in a 20-foot by 48-foot tunnel. Selling price average was based on grower interviews. Cost calculations showed the most expensive inputs as compost, seed, and harvest labor. The net result was a loss of $1,424.91. The project team, however, suggests considerations that may offset the risk of loss with the winter-grown tunnel crops, including mechanized seeding, harvest, and lower cost soil amendments.

“While the winter season data suggest these greens may not be profitable for overwintering production, some growers note that extended-season greens can serve as a ‘loss leader’ to add value to winter CSA shares, allow the farms to retain their labor force, and maintain their wholesale markets year-round,” Pashow points out.

Project collaborators included Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., and Cornell Vegetable Program Specialist Judson Reid.

The complete results for these trials in 2022 and 2023 are posted under the heading “Alternative High Tunnel Crops for Northern New York” at www.nnyagdev.org under About/NNYADP Projects by Year.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

November 5, 2024. The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has released the preliminary results of an evaluation of a new orchard thinning product that may help apple growers overcome challenging temperatures. The region’s cool spring temperatures can interfere with an orchard’s ability to reach optimal crop load that drives yield and income opportunity.

Northern New York’s apple growers are in search of alternative methods of thinning their crop, particularly after seeing poor results with some traditional thinners in the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 seasons, leading to small fruit size in some varieties and poor return bloom of Honeycrisp, one of the region’s most economically valuable apple varieties, in 2019 and 2021.

Apple growers periodically thin a portion of the blossoms or young fruitlets from their trees to support optimal crop lead for improved apple size and quality at harvest. Tree Fruit Specialist Michael Basedow, with Cornell Cooperative Extension, notes, “Thinning at traditional spring timings is particularly challenging in Northern New York as thinning treatments are heavily driven by, and temperatures here are often too cool for good thinning efficacy.”

An additional challenge is that once the apples reach a size larger than 24 millimeters, the fruit is unresponsive to standard thinning materials and substantial hand-thinning labor becomes necessary or cost-prohibitive.

When a new thinning product was announced with the potential to work under Northern New York’s often cooler temperatures, Basedow proposed orchard trials for 2023. The trials received funding from the farmer-driven NNYADP.

“The questions to be answered are could this new product be a more reliable material for growers to use during the late window of time before fruit becomes unresponsive to thinning, and how much efficacy could we expect compared to thinning with traditional materials at bloom, petal fall, and fruit set,” Basedow explains.

Orchards in Chazy and Peru, New York, participated in the first-year trials. Four different thinning treatments were applied to three varieties of apple: Gala, Honeycrisp, and Macoun.

First-Year Results Varied by Location and Variety
Results varied by location and variety. In some cases, no difference among the treatments was seen in the number of Gale or Honeycrisp fruit per tree or yield, suggesting the new product could potentially be used in place of some other thinners if weather is not cooperative at the earlier thinning timings.

A significant increase in Gala fruit size was measured in one Gala treatment when the trees were thinned at petal fall, 12 mm, and with the new product under evaluation at 20mm. At another site, significant differences were recorded in Macoun fruit number per tree and yield with the new product, but no significant gain in fruit size or color, while the use of the product at another site improved Honeycrisp fruit color.

A mid-May freeze impacted the research results in at least one orchard where the extreme temperature lasted four hours.

“As a first-year evaluation, mixed results are often the case and backstop the need for trials in multiple years under varying conditions. More data will be added before any conclusions can be made,” Basedow says.

The impact on return bloom will be reported with the 2024 harvest data in the second-year research results report expected early in 2025. The report will be posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.